<< 



THE MISSJIVrG LINK." 

Reprinted from the National Quarterly Revuiv for July, 1S80. — Coi)vright. J^ 

WHAT LED TO THE WAR 



SECRET HISTORY OF THE KANSAS -HEBRASKA BILL 



GOL. JOHF A.. PARKER 

OF VIROINIA. 



WITH AN APPENDIX 



CONTAINING 

SKETCHES AND REMINISCENCES OF "THE EICHMOND 
ENQUIRER" AND "WHIG" AND THEIR EDITORS, 

AND AN 

BY WALDORF H. PHILLIPS OF NEW YORK. 



WASHINGTON, D. C: 

GBAY & CLARKSON, PKINTiilRS AND PUBLISHERS. 
1886. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



In submitting to the public an essay of the character and 
importance of Col. Parker's What Led to the War, it is proper 
that a brief sketch of its author should preface it^ and that 
answers should be given to the two questions which naturally 
suggest themselves, namely : How did Col. Parker become 
acquainted with secret facts which took place during the 
Administrations of Presidents Polk, Pierce and Buchanan? 
and, Why has the publication of these facts been so long 
withheld ? 

John A. Parker was born February 20th, 1804, in the 
historic county of Westmoreland, Virginia, within a few 
miles of the birthplaces of Washington, Monroe, Richard 
Henry Lee and the Lee family. His grandfather, "Old 
Judge Parker," as he was familiarly known, was the friend 
and associate of those distinguished men, and his father was 
the youngest of five brothers who served in the Revolutionary 
War, and who are so often spoken of by Lee in his 3Iemoirs. 
The Parkers have a military record extending throughout 
several generations, and probably no family in America has 
furnished more members to the profession of arms. 

Col. Parker has been officially connected, at home and 
abroad, with the Government of the United States for forty 
years, and has had opportunities of obtaining information 
vouchsafed but to very few men of his time. Among the 
many important positions which he has held under differ- 
ent Administrations of different politics, a few may here be 
mentioned. Li 1835 he was sent by General Jackson to 
Texas on a secret mission connected with the independence 
of that country. In 1851 he was Librarian of the House of 
Representatives of the United States. In 1855 he was Sec- 
retary of the Judiciary Committee of the House, which then 
had charge of the investigation of the great frauds consum- 
mated by Gardiner and others under the Mexican treaty. 
In 1856 he was appointed Register of the Land Office of 
Nebraska^ then embracing an area of 336,000 square miles — 
one-ninth of the whole area of the United States — which 
position he resigned immediately after Mr. Buchanan changed 



his "Kansas policy " — a change which surprised and morti- 
fied the President's best friends, and caused Gov. Wise and 
Col. Parker, to whom — as he writts, in a letter preserved by 
the latter — he owed his candidature and election, to regret 
the part they had taken in elevating him to the Presidential 
chair. In 1860 he was appointed tJnited States Consul at 
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, and given authority to make 
radical changes, which he did. He asked to be relieved in 
1862, but it was only after a third request that his wish was 
complied with. 

After his return to the United States, in 1862, Col. Parker 
was offered a mission to South America, which he declined. 
He is at present, and has been since 1859, representing the 
State of Virginia in a matter of very great importance to her 
and to other States. His record in all the Departments 
shows that he has always discharged the duties assigned him 
to the entire satisfaction of the appointing power as well as 
to his own lasting credit. 

The foregoing sketch is necessarily brief and incomplete, 
but it is sufficient to commend Col. Parker to the attention 
and confidence of all who may read his interesting and valu- 
able contribution to the history of the great Civil War. 

There can be no doubt that the passage of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill led directly to the conflict between North and 
South ; or rather, to speak more correctly — for the conflict 
had become an inevitable one — there can be no doubt that 
the passage of this act precipitated the war, fanning into a 
blaze the embers which had been smouldering so long. 

The authorship of this bill has always been attributed to 
Stephen A. Douglas ; its true purpose has never yet been 
made public. To correct the error and to unvail the mys- 
tery, as well as to supply a missing link in the history of the 
past, is the object of Col. Parker's essay, and here arise the 
two questions above stated. 

First. — The answer to the first question is that it was Col. 
Parker's good fortune to be closely connected, politically and 
officially, with some of the principal actors, and with others 
by the closest ties of personal freindship and family relations. 
Among the latter was one who exerted more influence in 
making and unmaking public men in the United States thaa 
any other man of the same period, and of the possession of 
whose entire confidence, to a degree which he did not fully 
impart to his own son. Col. Parker has abundant evidence. 



A 



This was Mr. Ritchie^ editor of the Washington Union. 
There was another, who reached the Presidency, whose con- 
fidential friend our author was for more than twenty years. 

Second. — In reply to the second query, it may be stated 
that it has only been after persistent urging on the part of 
his friends and many prominent gentlemen all over the 
country, and after many years of deliberation, that Col. 
Parker has been induced to write his article. He believed, 
until very lately, that the time had not come for a calm 
consideration and an impartial judgment of the facts. The 
angry and bitter feeling engendered by the late struggle 
had not sufficiently died out. It has now, to a great extent, 
and it is hoped that it may soon be blotted out forever. 

Of the gentlemen who composed the Cabinets of Presidents 
Pierce, Polk and Buchanan, there survive but seven : of Mr. 
Polk's Cabinet, one ; of Mr. Pierce's and of Mr. Buchanan's^ 
three each. On the subject of the facts now made known, no 
correspondence has been had with either of these gentlemen ; 
but so far as the acts of the different Administrations under 
which they respectively served are given, it is confidently 
believed that they will verify each one to the extent of their 
acquaintance with them. 

Third. — This was written, viz : in October, 1883. Hon. 
Jefferson Davis has written to Col. Parker, and confirmed 
every fact contained in this paper. 

Col. Parker desires to say that no confidence is violated in 
making this publication, and that the information it contains 
was honorably acquired. He also wishes to distinctly disclaim 
any intention to assail the motives of the originator of the im- 
portant measure, who, he believes, was governed by the highest 
considerations which bind man to his fellow man — the belief 
that he was honorably serving his country, and fidelity to 
personal and political friendship — or of any of the distin- 
guished actors of whom he speaks or to whom he alludes. 
If their acts proved disastrous, they should not be too harshly 
judged. It is frequently the case that men, intending no 
injury and with the purest motives, commit great and lament- 
able errors. 

In conclusion, it may be permissible to express the opinion 
that, terrible as were the sufterings caused by the war ; wide- 
spread as were the desolation and destruction which followed 
in its train, and deep and heart-rending as were the grief 
and mourning it carried into thousands of loving homes, yet, 



6 

as there is no cloud without a silver lining, judged from the 
result and from a purely national standpoint, it was more of 
a blessing than a curse. This is contrary to the opinion of so 
high an authority as Count Von Moltke, who says that even 
to the victorious, war is a national calamity. Nevertheless, 
it seems to us that our civil strife was not altogether disas- 
trous in its effects. It caused the rapid development of our 
country and of our enormous resources; it demonstrated that we 
do not need a large standing army, that our people love their 
republican institutions and are ready to shed their life's blood 
in their defense ; it showed to the world that we possessed vast 
strength and ability, and were infinitely greater and more 
powerful than it had supposed us to be ; and, gaining for us 
the admiration and respect of civilized mankind, it has, while 
placing us at once in the front rank of nations, at the same 
time, let demagogues say what they will, cemented in blood 
the ties which bind North, East, South, and West, together 
in one indissoluble Union, of which, with Col. Parker, we 
can all say fervently, lovingly and with just pride, Esto 
perpetua. 

It is proper to say that Col. Parker is not even acquainted 
with Mr. Phillips, nor does he know certainly how he 
obtained the information he has given in his introductory ; 
the statements are true, but too complimentary. 

WALDORF H. PHILLIPS. 



"THE MISSING LINK." 

veprinted from the National Quarterly Review for July, 1880. — Copyright. 



/ 



WHAT LED TO THE WAR 



SECRET HISTORY OP THE KANSAS -NEBRASKA BILL 



COL. JOHN A. PARKER 

OF VIRGINIA. 



WITH AN APPENDIX 



OONTAnOHG 



SKETCHES AND REMINISCENCKS OF "THE RICHMOND 
ENQUIRER" AND "WHIG" AND THEIR EDITORS, 



lOiTTzaoaD-crcTOie-s- itote 



BY WALDORF H. PHILLIPS OF NEW YORK. 



WASHINGTON, D. C: 

\. GRAY & CLARK80N, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS 

1886. 









A 



THE 



Secret History of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. 



(jrhe passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and the execu- 
tion of the law by Presidents Pierce and Buchanan, led 
directly to secession and its consequences. The Kansas-Ne- 
braska bill was the most important which ever passed the 
Congress of the United States. Yet the American people to 
this day do not know, and cannot have known, who was its 
author, or what were the immediate objects to be accomplished 
by its passage. Stephen A. Douglas was, and still is, believed 
by the country to have been its author. It is a fact that he, 
as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, reported 
it to the Senate, and was its able and active supporter and ad- 
vocate. But Mr. Douglas was not its author J 

That the people of to-day may know the importance of that 
bill, it is necessary that a brief sketch be given of the slavery 
quest^'on. The Avriter desires to say — and it is due to the 
reader — that he was in 1854 in a position to know many facts 
and incidents connected with this bill which were not accessi- 
ble to the public, or even to the press of the country. He 
believes only one other person, perhaps two, to be now living, 
familiar with the origin and secret history of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill. He may also add that he is familiar with, 
and has taken part in, the slavery agitation since 1819 and 
1820, and that he was a slave-holder until the late war. As 
early as 1835 he was convinced that slavery was one of the 
greatest evils we had to contend with, and the greatest bar- 
rier to national prosperity. These views were obtained by 
observations made in extensive travels through the Southern 
and Western States. He, however, disapproved of the slavery 
agitation as conducted by Garrison and his co-workers. He 
believed that their course delayed the emancipation of the 
slaves, so much desired by some of the most distinguished 
men — slave owners — in Virginia, in 1831 and 1832, who were 
then endeavoring to devise some scheme for gradual emanci- 
pation. 



8 

At an early period in the history of our country it was 
foreseen that the question of slavery would he one of the most 
serious with which we would have to contend. This feeling 
was manifested in the convention which framed the Consti- 
tution. The South at that time did not desire the extension 
of slavery, and it is well known that she opposed the exten- 
sion of the time at which the slave trade should cease. Vir- 
ginia, then the largest slave State in the Union, in 1784, 
conveyed to the United States her immense domain, the 
Northwest Territory, now composing five or six of the larg- 
est and most powerful and wealthy States in the Union. In 
the ordinance of cession she stipulated that slavery should 
never exist in that territory. This cession, with the circum- 
stances under which it was made, has no parallel in the his- 
tory of the world. It gave to the United States an empire 
from which, as Mr. Webster declared, the United States de- 
rived two hundred millions of dollars. She dedicated it for- 
ever to freedom, a nohle deed on which her citizens may look 
back with pride ; and if at any time Virginia, in the eyes of 
her sister States, has made mistakes or committed errors, she 
has, by virtue of her glorious past, a right to ask that they 
be blotted from memory, and that she be considered the peer 
of any State. She was the author of free-soilism in the United 
States. At the time she made this cession of territory and 
consecrated it forever to freedom, nearly all the States held 
slaves. When France ceded Louisiana to the United States 
it was expected that one State would soon be admitted into 
the Union with slavery ; but it was then known that, in the 
future, out of that immense territory other States would be 
formed where slavery would not exist. In 1819 Missouri 
asked to be admitted into the Union with slavery. She was 
a part of the Louisiana purchase. It was upon this petition 
of Missouri that parties arrayed themselves against each other 
on the slavery question. Up to that time there had been no 
disposition shown to interfere with slavery in the States where 
it then existed. On the one hand, the North took the ground 
that slavery should not be extended over any portion of the 
territory belonging to the United States. On the other hand, 
the South held that the territory was the joint property of all 
the States, and that the people of all the States had equal 
rights and privileges in their occupancy ; that property was 
entitled to protection, and that slaves were recognized by the 
Constitution as property, and as such could be rightfully and 



legally carried into any territory. The North, regarding 
slavery as an evil, contended that it was its duty to prevent 
its extension, believing it would be held responsible before 
the civilized world if it did not avail itself of every means to 
arrest the increase. These issues were plain and distinct, 
and upon them a most angry and exciting discussion in Con- 
gress, through the press, and among the people, ensued for 
nearly two years. No one then living can forget the excite- 
ment which existed throughout the whole country. Mr. 
Jefferson said in one of his letters that it was "like a fire 
bell in the night." The Union seemed to hang on a slender 
thread ; a dark pall appeared to cover the country. Patriots 
trembled for its safety, and men calculated the value of the 
Union. But fortunately there was in the councils of the 
nation a patriot statesman, wise and fearless. He repre- 
sented a slave-holding State. He came forward with the 
olive branch and offered the famous Missouri Compromise, 
under which Missouri was admitted as a State. By this com- 
promise slavery was permitted south of 36° 30' north latitude, 
but forever excluded north of that line. The solution of the 
difficulty was accepted by all political parties ; reluctantly 
■accepted by the South, yet acquiesced in and acted upon by 
all. The country canonized the Compromise and all people 
held it sacred until 1854. The name of the author of that 
Compromise scarcely needs to be mentioned. It will ever be 
cherished by the American people. Henry Clay needs no 
monument to tell who he was, or the part he bore in that 
€ventful period. 

Peace was restored, a new lease of life and prosperity was 
given to the Union, and for years this state of quiet con- 
tinned. Yet, in the discussions which had preceded the 
Compromise, the seed of dissolution was sown which ripened 
for the harvest of secession in 1860 and 1861. Frequently 
after the adoption of the Missouri Compromise, the slavery 
question was introduced into Congress and brought before 
the country by petitions for the abolition of slavery in the 
District of Columbia, in the annexation of Texas and the 
admission of new States. These never failed to cause angry 
and bitter feeling and had a tendency to weaken the 
ties which bound the States together. A very small party 
only exhibited any disposition to interfere with slavery in 
the States where it existed. But a great and rapidly increas- 
ing party had been formed in the non-slaveholding States 



10 

for the avowed purpose of preventing its extension. Very 
many of the northern leading emocrats adopted the prin- 
ciples of this new party. Arao g the most distinguished of 
these were ex-President Van Buren, the Hon. Salmon P. 
Chase, and the Hon, D. S. Dickinson, of New York. Mr. 
Dickinson, on the 1st of March, 1847, while opposing the 
Wilmot Proviso as an amendment to the loan for prosecuting 
the Mexican war, said, in the Senate: ''I will vote for a 
separate bill to exclude slavery from all the territory we now 
have, or may hereafter acquire, instructed or not instructed." 
He had been instructed by the Legislature of New York to vote 
for the Wilmot Proviso. The sweeping declaration on the part 
of Mr. Dickinson indicated public opinion in the free States, 
and especially in view of the fact that we expected to acquire 
California, a large portion of whicb lay south of the line of 
36° 30'; and, further, that a very large portion of the people 
of the United States were looking for a speedy acquisition of 
Cuba. 

In 1848 the Free-Soil Convention met at Buffalo, New- 
York, and nominated Mr. Van Buren for President, with 
Charles F. Adams for Vice-President. The convention was 
composed chiefly of Democrats, and took strong position 
against the extension of slavery. In 1852 the Democratic 
Convention convened in Baltimore, and it is a matter of his- 
tory that the Virginia delegates offered the Presidency to 
Mr. Dickinson, who only five years before had made his free- 
soil declaration in the Senate. It would thus appear that at 
that time Virginia did not consider the principle of free- 
soil odious. It cannot be doubted that, had Mr. Dickinson 
consented to accept the nomination, the other Southern States 
without exception would have followed the lead of Virginia. 
In that event he would have been elected, as was Mr. Pierce, 
and the United States would have had for President a free- 
soil man, made President by the South. But had Mr. Dick- 
inson b:en elected, it is reasonable to believe that a different 
condition of national affairs would have existed from that we 
witnessed a few years later. 

The next great slavery agitation which occurred in Congress 
was in the session of 1849 and 1850, during the discussion of the 
the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, between this country and 
Mexico. By this treaty the United States had acquired from 
Mexico an immense territory, a large pcit on of which was 
south of 36° 30'. No territorial government bad been es- 



11 

tablished and no enabling act had been passed. California 
had framed a constitution, elected United States Senators, 
and asked admission into the Union as a State. She had in- 
cluded within her state limits a great part of the territory 
south of the Missouri Compromise line of 36° 30'. The dis- 
cussions growing out of the admission of California exceeded 
in bitterness any which the country had witnessed since the 
time of the adoption of the Missouri Compromise. When 
and how the feeling engendered by this discussion would 
have terminated it is difficult to predict, had not Mr. Clay, now 
near the close of life, again come forward with a second com- 
promise. He feared that he would fail of success unless he 
could secure the active cooperation of an old political adver- 
sary, a man who, for fifty years, had filled a larger space in the 
public eye than any other person in the United States. This 
was Mr. Ritchie, the editor of the Washington Union, the 
organ of the Administration and of the Democratic party. 
Mr. Clay sent his friend, Mr. Simonton, now connected with 
the associated press, to Mr. Ritchie to learn if it would be 
agreeable for him, Mr. Clay, to call on him. Mr. Ritchie, 
replied that, under the circumstances, it was proper that he 
should make the first call, and lie did so, accompanied by 
Judge Bayley, of Virginia. Thus these two men, each great 
in the sphere in which he was called to act, were brought to- 
gether after a long esti-angement, and smoked the calumet of 
peace. It was their joint labor that then saved the country 
from the fearful disaster which threatened it from the violent 
agitation of the slavery question. Each loved the Union, 
and each desired its perpetuity. Each was opposed to nul- 
lification and secession. Soon after securing the pacification 
of the country, Mr. Clay passed to the spirit land, and in a 
brief space after, Mr. Ritchie received his last summons. 
God in his wisdom took them to Himself before the great 
disruption both so much feared and labored to avert had 
cursed the country they so loved. 

The compromise measure of 1850 gave another lease of life 
and prosperity to the nation ; but it was destined to be of 
short duration. In 1852 Mr. Pierce was triumphantly elec- 
ted. He was supported by all sections, receiving a majority 
in all the States excepting four, and was installed as Presi- 
dent with every indication that a brighter day w^as dawning. 
The slave question was apparently settled, and peace and 
prosperity everywhere prevailed. No serious attenijit had 



12 

been made for thirty years to repeal the Missouri Compro- 
mise. The North considered it a sacred compact and the 
South was satisfied with it. No disposition was shown to 
disturb it. But this was the calm before the mighty storm 
which swept over the land, and in its progress carried every- 
where devastation and woe. From its effects millions of 
of men, women and children have mourned, and still do 
mourn, in every part of our country. Fraternal blood flowed 
like the mountain torrent, the dead covered the fields like 
sheaves at harvest time, and the wounds of those who sur- 
vived are yet but half healed. The wail of distress was 
everywhere heard, widows and orphans were in almost every 
house, and every home was dra[)ed in mourning. In the 
South, grief and want went hand in hand, and demoraliza- 
tion followed in the wake of all. Now, and in the years to 
come, the primary cause of all this may be asked. It is the 
purpose of this article to answer that question. 

Qriie people of Missouri had commenced the cultivation of 
hemp, a crop yielding large profits, but which it was be- 
lieved could not be successfully produced except by slave 
labor. That portion of Nebraska which is now Kansas was 
regarded as peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of the crop. 
A considerable number of the people of Missouri had long 
desired to occupy that section — to open it to slave labor and to 
the cultivation of hemp. It was known by the representa- 
tives of Missouri that for this reason the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise would be popular with the people of that 
State. "^ 

Thomas H. Benton had served thirty years in the Senate, 
but had then been superseded. He had lost caste with a 
portion of the Democratic party, after having been for many 
years its trusted and fearless leader. He never was popular 
with either of the extreme wings of the party, and was 
especially objectionable to the friends of Mr. Calhoun. He 
was too national to be popular with the nullifiers and seces- 
sionists of the South or abolitionists of the North. He had been 
the strongest supporter of Mr. Van Buren's administration, 
and many believed that he sympathized with that gentleman 
in 1848. After being defeated for the Senate he was elected 
to the House of Representatives, but he looked forward to a 
re-election to the Senate when the term of his late colleague, 
the Hon. D. R. Atchinson, should expire. He had been 
further alienated from the Democratic party by his opposition 



13 

to Mr. Polk's administration during the Mexican war, and 
the bitter warfare which he waged against Secretary Marcy, 
Mr. Ritchie, and other prominent men of the party, Mr. 
Polk had made an eifort to conciliate him, and, against the 
protests of three members of his Cabinet, he appointed him 
Generalissimo of the armies in Mexico, to which office he 
was confirmed by the Senate. He was clothed with diplo- 
matic powers. In one hand he was to hold the sword and 
in the other the olive branch. But just at the time he was 
to leave on his mission, a misunderstanding arose and he 
was not sent. Mr. Atchinson had been President of the 
Senate, was a native of Kentucky, and was very popular, 
especially in the South and with the friends of Mr. Calhoun. 
Mr. Benton and he had become bitter personal and political 
enemies. His term in the Senate was about to expire and 
Mr. Benton was his most formidable competitor. The result 
of the contest was considered doubtful, and it was deemed 
by Mr. Atchinson's friends important to strengthen him in 
Missouri, and to weaken Mr. Benton. 

How to do this was considered in "secret session." It is 
thought that only three, besides Mr. Atchinson, knew in the 
early stages the programme marked out. Subsequently 
others were made acquainted with it. The originators of 
the plan fixed upon were Mr. Atchinson and three other able 
and distinguished Southern Senators, men of great influence 
in the whole country, and especially influential in the South. 
Only one of these four men is now living, and it is due to 
him and to those now at rest to say that if they could have 
foreseen the consequences which would result from the repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise, we believe no one of them would 
ever have been instrumental in causing it. Mr. Pierce had 
carried for his election all the States of the Union, save 
Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and it 
was believed that the measure to repeal the Missouri Com- 
promise could be carried and cause but little sensation in the 
country. This was a grave error. The primary object, there- 
fore, which induced the initiation of the measure to repeal 
the Missouri Compromise was to secure the re-election of Mr. 
Atchinson to the Senate. The means to be employed was 
the repeal of the Compromise, in order that the people of 
Missouri might carry their slaves to Kansas and there raise 
hemp. 



14 

The author of the Kansas-Nebraska bill was not Mr. 
Douglas, but Mr, Atchinson. 

Early in the session of 1854, Mr, Douglas, chairman of 
the Committee on Territories, introduced a bill to establish a 
territorial government in Nebraska, then embracing the 
present States of Kansas, Nebraska, and parts of Colorado, 
and the Territories of Wyoming and Dakota. No mention 
was made in it of Kansas. The bill, as originally introduced, 
differed but little from kindred bills which had been passed 
by Congress. Soon after the introduction of the bill Mr. 
Dixon, a Whig Senator from Kentucky, and a personal friend 
of Mr. Atchinson, gave notice in the Senate that when this 
bill came up he would offer an amendment to repeal the Mis- 
souri Compromise. This was the first notice tliat such action 
was contemplated. The whole country was taken by surprise. 
There were then two Democratic papers published in Wash- 
ington : the Union, edited by 0. P. Nicholson, the organ of 
Mr. Pierce's administration, and the Sentinel, edited by the 
gifted B. Tucker. Each of these pfvpers, when Mr. Dixon 
gave this notice, denounced it is a Whig movement, intended 
to be a firebrand, and having for its object the breaking 
down of the Democratic party. The files of these papers 
will show the facts as here given. It is certain that neither 
of these editors was at the time in the secret. 

Not long after the notice given by Mr. Dixon, Mr. Doug- 
las moved in the Senate to have the Nebraska bill recommit- 
ted, which was done. Again, a little later he reported the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill for establishing two territorial govern- 
ments. But before this was done he was made to believe it 
would be a very popular movement in the South and con- 
tribute largely to his nomination for the Presidency in 1856. 
It is doubtful whether he ever knew the real object to be at- 
tained by the repeal. The President was also consulted and 
was impressed with the idea that if he made it an adminis- 
tration measure it would give him additional strength in the 
South, and greatly help him to a renomination in 1856. 
The President laid the subject before his Cabinet, then com- 
posed of Secretaries Marcy, Guthrie, Jefferson Davis, Camp- 
bell, Cushing, Dobbin and McClelland, and all consented 
that it should be made an administration measure. Mr, 
Marcy, who consented reluctantly, was not very cordial in 
its su])port. 

Undoubtedly, President Pierce and Mr. Douglas both 



15 

overestimated their influence in the North. They could not 
have foreseen that the whole country would become so excited 
as to jeopardize the Union, The debates which ensued in 
both Houses of Congress were long and very bitter. The 
entire slavery question was reopened. A caucus of Southern 
Democrats, composed of fifty or sixty members of both 
Houses, had been held, and after a good deal of opposition it 
was decided to support the bill. The South, therefore, with 
few exceptions, supported it, being aided by a portion, and a 
portion only, of Northern and Western Democrats. A very 
considerable number of tlie latter, and all the Northern 
Whigs, were found to be opposed to it. Very few of the 
Northern or Western Democrats in either House who voted 
for the bill were re-elected, and only two of all its supporters 
are now in Congress. These are H. B. Wright, of Penn- 
sylvania, and A. H. Stephens, of Georgia. The Democratic 
party in the North received a blow from which it never re- 
covered. 

As indicating the sectional feeling aroused, we recall the 
fact that, during the discussion, a serious difficulty arose be- 
tween the late John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and F. 
B. Cutting, of New York, growing out of words spoken in 
debate. For nearly a week a duel was pending. A chal- 
lenge had been sent and accepted. An intense excitement 
prevailed, not in Washington only, but throughout the 
country, and much sectional i'eeling was manifested in rela- 
tion to it. Happily, wise and prudent men interfered and a 
meeting was prevented. 

The bill finally passed, and the President appointed the 
various officers who were to govern the two Territories, and 
it may as well be mentioned here that the writer was 
one of them. In making these appointments. President 
Pieice was greatly embarrassed. The South, and especially 
Missouri, desired that he should appoint Southern men only 
to the offices in Kansas, where it was believed that slavery 
might go, and Northern men in Nebraska, where slavery 
never could go. At first the President was disposed to pur- 
sue that policy, but he afterward changed his views and ap- 
pointed to each Territory about an equal number from each 
section. He selected for Governor of Kansas a Northern, and 
for Governor of Nebraska a Southern man . This course was 
not pleasing to the people of Missouri, and at an early period 
a very bitter state of feeling existed. This was occasioned 



16 

partly loy the lack of prudence displayed by the Governor^ 
and partly by the determination of the people of the border 
counties to make Kansas a slave State. 

Emigrant aid societies were soon formed in the North, and 
a struggle commenced to counteract the pro-slavery move- 
ment. It was not difficult to see that in the end the anti- 
slavery party would succeed. In the early stages, Missouri 
had the advantage. She had but little aid from any South- 
ern State. Only one regular organization for colonizing 
Kansas existed in the South. That was in South Carolina, 
and was headed by Mr. Buford. For three years the coun- 
try was kept in a state of excitement. In Kansas every man 
went fully armed. Frequent murders took place and house- 
burning was practised by both parties. At one time several 
thousand men, fully armed and under military command, 
confronted each other, and a regular battle was daily ex- 
pected. No one not present could form any idea of the 
extent to which anarchy prevailed. Four different Govern- 
ors had been appointed, all Northern men. Democrats, and 
each had been quickly deposed. The United States troops 
had been employed, and yet no peace or quiet could be had. 
At last it was thought that by calling a convention, framing 
a constitution, and asking to be admitted as a State into the 
Union — although the population did not justify it — the 
vexed question might be settled. The attempt was made. 
The pro-slavery party obtained a majority of the convention 
and framed what was known as the Lecompton Constitution. 
It was pro-slavery. Had that constitution been properly 
submitted to the people, it was contended that it would have 
been rejected. Indeed, there is little doubt that it would 
have been. Unfortunately, the convention adoptedit without 
giving the people who were to live under it an opportunity 
to say whether or not it was acceptable to them. This was 
a fatal error, and, as might have been foreseen, increased and 
intensified the excitement. 

Such was the status of the Kansas question when Mr. 
Buchanan was inaugurated March 4, 1857. Mr. Buchanan 
received the nomination over Mr. Pierce and Mr. Douglas. 
He owed his nomination and election to the fact that he was 
out of the country at the time the Kansas-Nebraska bill was 
passed, and that he had taken no part in it. At Cincinnati, 
in 1856, it was the settled purpose of the convention not to 
trust to the election of any candidate who had been active in the 



17 

support of this bill. Hence the defeat of Mr. Pierce and Mr. 
Douglas, and the nomination of Mr. Buchanan, In the elec- 
tion, Mr. Buchanan was able to carry only five Northern 
States, while four years previous Mr. Pierce had carried all 
but two. This proved an extraordinary and unprecedented 
change in public opinion, and must be attributed to the re- 
peal of the Missouri Compromise. When Mr. Buchanan 
came to the Presidency, all attention was turned to him, and 
from his long experience, his prudence, moderation and wis- 
dom much was expected. 

Governors Reeder, Sliannon and Geary, who had been ap- 
pointed by President Pierce, had each failed to give peace 
and quiet to Kansas. No security to life or property existed 
in the Territory. Mr. Buchanan immediately appointed as 
Governor R. J. Walker, a man of national reputation, who 
had with marked ability filled many high and important po- 
sitions. With Mr. Walker was associated another gentlemen 
well known to the country, an ex-Member ^f Congress from 
Tennessee, Mr. F. P. Stanton. These gentlemen did not 
desire to accept the positions assigned them, and consented 
only after the strongest appeals to their patriotism had been 
made by Mr. Buchanan and others. Having been clothed 
with plenary powers, they proceeded on their mission of peace. 
It was distinctly understood that they were to use all proper 
influences to have the Lecompton Constitution submitted to 
the people. While they were actively engaged in this effort, 
and with every prospect of being successful, they received 
notice that the President had changed his Kansas policy, and 
that he desired the constitution to be sustained as it came 
from the hands of the framers. This change of policy on the 
part of Mr. Buchanan was one of the most extraordinary, 
unfortunate, and, so far as the public knows, most unaccount- 
able ever made by any public man. While he was supported 
in this policy by a portion of the South, it alienated from him 
thousands and tens of thousands of friends who had, up to 
that time, warmly sustained him. He never recovered from 
that act. 

Soon after this change of policy. Governor Walker was 
recalled, and anarchy again held high carnival in Kansas. 
Four governors had now failed, and a bold, an able and a 
prudent man was required to act the part of Moses; one, too, 
who was a man of unflinching courage. Fortunately such a 
man was found in the Hon. James W. Denver, an ex-Member 



18 

of Congress from California, a distinguished and gallant 
veteran of the Mexican war — a noble man and a statesman, 
now a resident of Washington, loved and respected by all 
who know him. Mr. Buchanan appointed him Governor. 
To him the country owed the })acification of Kansas, and the 
crisis for the time was satisfactorily passed. 

Soon after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, another 
-and a still more dangerous doctrine, growing out of the re- 
peal, came up, convulsed the country, and resulted in seces- 
sion. This was whether Congress or the people of a Terri- 
tory, })Ossessed the right to admit or prohibit slavery in any 
territory of the United States. The Republicans contended 
that Congress alone held that power, while Mr. Douglas and 
his friends asserted that it belonged solely to the Territorial 
Legislature. In other words, Mr. Douglas and his friends 
claimed that the creatures of Congress could do what Con- 
gress itself could not do. The South contended that neither 
Congress nor the Territorial Legislature possessed the right, 
but the people alone, in forming a constitution and organiz- 
ing a State, possessed it. On these issues the Presidential 
canvass in 1860 was conducted. The result was that the Re- 
publicans carried every Northern and Western State. All 
that followed is too painfully impressed on the mind and 
memory of the people now living to require repetition here. 

This sketch has been written at the request of friends and 
to supply a missing link in the history of the past. It has 
been written in no sectional spirit, neither to wound the feel- 
ings of any now living nor to disturb the ashes of the dead. 
"The writer has outlived all bitterness and unkind feeling 
toward any party or person on earth. 

From these facts, as herein given, the^ following conclusions 
are warranted : 

(First. — That the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was 
not called for by the South at the time it was repealed, the 
bill being offered by a Northern man who was its ostensible 
author. 

Second. — That the primary object of the lepeal was to 
politically strengthen one man and to weaken another. 

Third. — That the South contended for a principal which, 
had it been established, would have been of no political benefit 
to it or to the cause of slavery: 1. Because slavery could 
never have been established north of 36° 30': 2. Because 
there was open to slavery south of 36° 30', in Texas, Louisi- 



19 

ana, Arkansas, Mississii)pi_, Florida and Alabama, un- 
occupied lands sufficient to employ all the slaves in the 
United States, and their increase for at least one hundred 
years to come.^ 

To establish the Union and to preserve it to this time has 
cost in lives and treasure an amount which cannot be esti- 
mated. To continue to preserve it will require wisdom, 
justice, prudence, patriotism, and, above all, a kind and 
catholic spirit. Let these virtues be cultivated, let the errors 
of the past be forgiven and, as far as possible, forgotten. 
Let us have such a Union as its founders intended it should 
be. Then all of us in all sections can say of it, Esto i^er- 
petua! 

John A. Parker, 
Of Tajopahannock, Essex Co., Va. 



APPENDIX. 



Containing Sketches of the Old Richmond Enquirer and 
Richmond Whig, and their Editors and Founders — Some 
OF these Sketches have been Published and Republished 
in the Virginia Papers — They are here Published by 
Request. 

Brief Sketches and Reminiscences of the Old JRichmond En- 
quirer and Constitutional Whig, and their Gifted and Ac- 
complished Founders, from Personal Recollections. 

Editor Norfolk Landmark : 

In giving certain unpretending sketches to the public, I 
ask permission to do so through the Landmark. 

1st. Because it is a '' live" paper and one of the very few 
I now read with any pleasure. 

2d. Because it has done, and is doing, more than any other 
paper I know of to build up our only seaport in Virginia, and 
in the success of which every Virginian is directly interested. 
It is, in fact, the Journal of Commerce of Virginia, and should 
be in the hands of every Virginian. In saying this, I do not 



20 

■wisli to be considered as disparaging other papers. The 
Landmark is justly entitled to be considered the avant courier 
in commercial matters in Virginia. 

[Our correspondent gives a third reason, but it is too kind 
and complimentary to be admitted ; but, though excluded 
from these columns, it cannot be erased from the memory of 
the person referred to by our old friend Essex.] 

Mr. Editor, standing as I do, a link between the past and 
present generations I have thought these sketches may inter- 
est some of your readers. With one of the distinguished 
persons of whom I shall speak, I had very close personal re- 
lations (and some family connections) for many long years, and 
up to the day of his death ; and I have reasons to know I 
had his entire confidence, which I have ever greatly prized. 
Before closing these sketches I may, in its proper place, give 
an incident of one of his last acts, and a few days before his 
death, in which the writer was interested, but the people of 
the United States much more. It will show how far-seeing 
and prophetic he was. 

With the other personage I had no intimate personal rela- 
tions, but I possessed his friendship, and shall try to do jus- 
tice to his memory. He had many noble traits, with a kind 
and generous heart. In a private and social circle " he was 
like the gale of Spring ;" but in political warfare, " like the 
mountain storm." He used the battle-axe of Richard" — 
his venerable competitor, ''the Keen Cimeter of Saliden. 

As is it not my purpose to bore you or the public, and 
without knowing whether you can find space to publish, I 
shall, for the present, defer a sketch of The Old Enquirer. 

Essex. 

Our correspondent Essex has another paper in to-day's 
Landmark, in which he speaks of Mr. Ritchie, the famous 
editor. When these off-hand sketches are completed, they 
will be found full of curious bits of secret history, and as 
they run their course in our columns they begin to attract a 
good deal of attention. 



21 



[Ifor the Landmark.] 



Brief Sketches and Reminiscences of the old Enquirer and Con- 
stitutional Whig, and their Accomplished. Founders, from 
Personal Recollections and Reliable Information. 



By Essex. 



No. II. 

In giving these brief sketches to your readers they must 
not expect anything but facts, clothed in plain and common 
gense language ; nothing else is attempted. 

They are written in the house in which that true patriot, 
Thomas Ritchie, was born, now occupied by the writer, who 
has waited in the hope that some other and better pen would 
have been employed, and full justice would have been done 
"to all parties. 

The first number of the Enquirer was issued on the 9th 
day of May, 1804. It was a most interesting period of our 
history. The United States Government had been in exist- 
ence only about thirteen years — Mr. Jefferson was in liis first 
term. The old Federal party had fought its last battles, in 
its attempt to re-elect John Adams, and then to place Mr. 
Burr in the Presidential chair, although he had not received 
one single vote for that office. The downfall of the Federal 
party soon took place, and as a national party it ceased to 
exist. It is true it joined the nucleus of all other parties in 
opposition to the great Democratic State Rights party, viz : 

1. The Anti-War party. 

2. The "Tirtum Quid" party. 

3. The National Republican party, formed soon after Mr. 
John Quincy Adams was elected by the House, 

4. The Anti-Jackson party. 

5. The great Whig party, so named by James Watson 
Webb, of the New York Enquirer. 

All of the above parties were short lived except the great 
Whig party, which had many recruits from the Democratic 
ranks ; and in 1840, and again in 1848, succeeded in electing 
its candidates for the Presidency. After its signal defeat in 
1852 it became greatly demoralized by being joined by the 
fanatics, Puritans, Free-Soilers and Abolitionists. And it,, 
loo, after the election in 1856, became disintegrated. 



22 

It may be proper to say that the old Federal party num- 
"bered in its ranks some as high-toned and patriotic men as 
this country ever produced. Their proclivities and feelings, 
however, were English. They believed the Federal Govern- 
ment should be made stronger, and should be clothed with 
more power. Some few of these venerable men are still 
living, and are daily witnessing the powers which this 
creature of the States is exercising over its creators.; and 
they are daily passing the highest compliment they can pay 
to that grand old States Rights Democratic party, which has 
ever resisted the exercise of doubtful powers ; and on the 
success of such resistance alone can exist a free government — 
the rights of the people and the existence of the Government 
itself. 

I hope this seeming digression (and others which must be 
made in order to do even partial justice to these sketches) 
will be excused. 

As it is not my purpose to crowd, at one time, too much 
on your valuable columns, or weary your readers who may 
do me the honor of reading what I shall write, I shall defer 
until my next number an account of the early history of the 
Enquirer and its intimate connection with, and support by, 
some of the greatest statesmen and purest patriots and men 
which this or any other country has ever produced. 



''Essex." 

We print elsewhere an interesting sketch of the origin of 
the Enquirer and some of its famous contributors, from the 
pen of our valued correspondent "Essex," This has all the 
charm of familiar conversation, and we have no doubt our 
readers will look forward to the next sketch with interest and 
curiosity. 



23 



[For the Landmark.] 



Brief Sl^ etches and Reminiscences of the old Enquirer and CoU' 
stitutional Whig, and their Founders, from Personal Re- 
collections and Reliable Information. 



By Essex. 



No. III. 



THE ENQUIRER, 

When the Enquirer was first issued on the 9th May, 1804, 
there were very few papers (comparatively) published in the 
United States, and scarcely one in what was known " as the 
country." At its helm was one of the best writers of the 
day^ and take him all and all, the best editor this country 
has produced. His great energy, prudence, sagacity ; his 
finished education ; his thorough acquaintance with the his- 
tory of the country, and his close intimacy and connection 
with all the leading men of the country, all combined to fit 
him to conduct the leading paper, not of Virginia alone, but 
of the United States. 

From its early existence, up to 1860, it was regarded as 
the organ of the Democratic party in Virginia, and from 1804 
to 1825 it was the organ of the administrations of Jefferson, 
Madison and Monroe. Its editor was known to possess the 
entire confidence of all of these great men, and in all of the 
many trials and troubles of that eventful period in our history 
the Enquirer was relied on for support and for defense. No 
wonder, then, that it should have gained an influence and 
fame which no other paper in this country has ever possessed. 
It was found in every respectable reading-room in the United. 
States. It was a telegraphic paper for others, and every 
Democratic paper in the United States copied largely from it. 
The aspirants for the very highest offices in the State and in 
the United States courted its support or dreaded its opposi- 
tion. Few_, very few, men in the State ever reached high 
positions without its aid, and very rarely did one against its 
opposition. 

In making an extensive tour in the South and West, many 
years ago, when a very important question was before the 
country, hundreds of inquiries were made of the writer to 



24 

know " what course the Richmond Enquirer would pursue," 
whether it would oppose or sustain the measure. On that 
occasion it was my good fortune to travel with that truly 
great man, 

HENRY CLAY. 

Our journey of 1,200 miles was made on the splendid 
steamer "Sultana," from Louisville to New Orleans. On 
politics Mr. Clay conversed very freely and with great can- 
dor. He spoke of the party, of his defeats and the causes 
thereof. One of the principal ones he attributed to the long 
and continued opposition of the Enquirer. He seemed deeply 
to regret it on many accounts, and yet there was no asperity 
or bitterness in anything he said, and I am confident he did 
not feel any, for, when a reconciliation took place between 
himself and Mr. Ritchie in 1850-'51 (the incidents connected 
with which may hereafter be given), it was clear that all 
personal, unkind feelings had ceased to exist, and they met 
as old friends, with mutual respect and kindness, each doing 
full justice to the motives of the other. I know of no more 
pleasing sight than to see two such men, so long alienated, 
brought together and smoking the "calumet of peace." It 
was the misfortune of Mr. Clay to be run for the Presidency 
at such times as he could not be elected, as in 1824, 1832, 
and 1844, and not to be run when he could, as in 1840 and 
1848. On the last occasion he was defeated for the nomina- 
tion by one who owed his elevation to him. It was a cruel 
piece of bad faitli and ingratitude, which Mr. Clay keenly 
felt to the last hour of his existence. , 

OTHER CAUSES FOR THE SUCCESS OP THE ENQUIRER. 

No paper ever has had such correspondents in point of num- 
bers and character. The names of only a few I shall give, 
viz : JeffersoU; Madison, Monroe, Spencer, Roane, John Tay- 
lor of Caroline, Giles, Tazewell, the Burborns, the Tylers,, 
old Judge Parker, the "Patriarchs," the Brockenbroughs, 
Judge Richard E. Parker, and hundreds of others. They 
were statesmen — not mere politicians — they were patriots in 
every sense of the word. They were able and accomplished 
writers — they were men of pure private character — they were 
all Virginia gentlemen ; and, in my opinion, no higher com- 
pliment can be paid to any living man, than to say he was a 
Virginia gentleman of olden times. Of one of these gentle- 
men, the last named J an ex-President of the United States, 



25 

who had in 1837 oflfered him a seat in his Cabinet, pays him, 
in a letter written to your correspondent, the following com- 
pliment in speaking of him : "As a wise statesman, an able 
jurist and chaste writer." (President Van Buren's letter to 
me. Respt'y, Judge R. E. Parker.) 

Such was the teachers of the people through the Enquirer. 
Nearly every issue of that paper contained an article from 
the pen of one of those great and good men. They all, 
with the exception of G-iles, wrote under borrowed signatures. 
Giles signed his own proper name. They communed with 
each other tlirough the same channel. Discussions often 
took piace, but were always conducted in a calm, dignified 
and statesmanlike manner. No personalities were indulged 
in ; truth was elicited, and the people educated and enlight- 
ened. Oh! if we could, in this "age of progress," have 
such men in the councils of the country ! Unlike some of 
the papers of the present day, the editor of the Enquirer en- 
couraged and invited communications on public questions. 
Pay for publishing communications was never thought of. 
The names of all the correspondents were held sacred. No 
one in the office was ever permitted to make known anything 
which occurred in it. On one occasion one of the secrets of 
the office, in some way, had been divulged. The editor im- 
mediately called all of the employes in his office and polled 
each one ; nothing of the kind afterward occurred. The 
editorials was always prepared with great care — always digni- 
fied, argumentative, persuasive and instructive. This de- 
partment the editor entrusted to no one. Nothing coarse or 
unchaste was ever permitted to appear in the columns of the 
paper. 

HATRED OF THE OLD FEDERALISTS. 

These fine old gentlemen could not tolerate the Enquirer ; 
they looked upon it as their worst enemy ; as an enemy which 
was constantly on the alert to prevent that party from ever 
getting into power. They said that " Thos. Jefferson, the 
Richmond Enquirer^ the Devil, and John Holmes" were 
joint parties, and their purpose was to keep the people from 
being "taxed severely, and taxes rigidly collected, so as to 
make them meek and humble." Many of these gentlemen 
would never permit the Enquirer to be carried in their houses. 



26 



THE BUSINESS DEPARTMENT 



was not conducted with an eye to making money ; indeed 
its editor seemed to care but little about money, except to 
supply his necessary wants. He lived in great comfort, gave 
all his children fine educations and entertained very hand- 
somely ; beyond this he seemed to have no care as regards 
financial matters. He sometimes had business partners, but 
was not always fortunate in selecting them. Had that de- 
partment been properly conducted and the amounts charged 
collected, a large fortune would have been saved. It is said 
when the editor retired from the oftice in 1845, some $75,000 
were due to it. Wlien tlie debtors chose to pay they could do 
so; when they failed they were never pressed, and the names 
of some of the subscribers were found on the books who had 
not paid one dollar for twenty-five or thirty years. 

I could add much to this sketch, but forbear, as I shall in 
my next number have much to say of its former editor. 



Brief Sketches and Beminiscences of the old Bichmond En- 
quirer and Constitutional Whig ^ from Personal Becollections 
and Beliahle Information. 



BY ESSEX. — NO. IV. 



[For the Norfolk Landmark.] 

THOMAS RITCHIE. 

It is a matter of surprise that no biography of this remark- 
able man has ever been written. From 1804 to 1854, a 
period of fifty years, there was no man in the United States 
better known by reputation. There was not a statesman or 
prominent politician in any State in the Union who was not 
acquainted with the status of the Enqirer and its editor. 
There was not a States Right Democrat in the land that did 
not acknowledge his great value to the party and the country. 
There was not one who did not highly estimate his support. 
There was not a Federalist in the whole country that did not 
dread him and feel politically hostile to him, although he 
included many of their number among his personal friends. 
There was not a school boy of ten years of age in the State 
of Virginia who had not heard of Thomas Ritchie. 



27 

Mr. Ritchie lived in the most eventful period of our history, 
and took an active part in all the great questions of the day. 
A faithful history of his life would give the best history of 
the Embargo, the war of 1812, the Hartford Convention, the 
First and Second Banks of the United States, the Question of 
Internal Improvements by the United States^ the Missouri 
Compromise, the Abolition Question, Free Soil Question 
(which was the " Half-way House"), the Nullification Ques- 
tion, the Secession Question of 1832-'33, the Annexation of 
Texas, the Mexican War, the Compromise Question of 1850- 
"51, the Buffalo Convention of 1848, the Kansas-Xebraska 
Bill, and many other important but minor questions. At 
this point I will so far digress as to say that the name of the 
real author, and the true history of the "Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill" has never been published. It is partially written, and 
may yet appear. Few of the original actors are now living. 
A very distinguished Virginian could, if he chose, give all 
of the details connected with that bill, the most important in 
its consequences of any which was ever passed by the Con- 
gress of the United States. 

In these sketches no biography of Mr. Ritchie is intended 
or will be attempted — a far better pen than the one which is 
tracing these lines would be required to do even partial jus- 
tice to the subject. Only a few incidents connected with his 
life will be given. 

Mr. Ritchie was born in the county of Essex, and in the 
village of Tappahannock, in 1781, (before the Constitution 
of the United States was written or adopted). His ancestors 
and connections — the Roanes, Brockenbroughs, Fountleroys, 
&c. — were among the highest and most distinguished in the 
State, and belonged to that class known as F. F. V.'s — a 
class often spoken of with a slur ; but in point of high tone 
and honorable bearing, they were not surpassed and not often 
equaled. Mr. Crittenden, who wished to be funny, asked 
Col. McMullin : "Colonel, what became of the second fam- 
ilies of Virginia?" To which the Colonel promptly replied : 
" The second families of Virginia moved to Kentucky." 

At the age of 23 years Mr. Ritchie commenced his edito- 
rial life with the Enquirer^ and for nearly twenty years had 
scarcely a competitor in the State. It is true during that 
time other very respectable papers were published in Rich- 
mond and other parts of the State, but not one, until 1823. 
Tlce Constitutional Whig made its appearance, and became a 



28 

very formidable paper. Of it and its gifted editor I shall 
hereafter speak. 

I have in ray last number given a sketch of the Enquirer, 
so ably and successfully conducted by Mr. Eitchie from 1804 
to 1845, when he moved to Washington and established The 
Union. During a part of this time Mr. Ritchie was part 
owner and editor of another paper, The Compiler, a daily 
paper with a large circulation in the city^ but very little in 
the country. It was a news and business paper, and never 
had any political status. 

At an early period of his life Mr. Ritchie was happily mar- 
ried to Miss Isabella Foushee, one of the five beautiful and 
accomplished daughters of the much respected and much 
loved Dr. Foushee, known to every person in Richmond as 
"The good old Doctor." 

Much of Mr. Ritchie's success as an editor may be traced 
to his pleasant and happy domestic relations, without which 
few can succeed, and with which no one need despair in any 
enterprise which may be entered on. 

It is rare, indeed, that one so young as Mr. Ritchie was 
when he commenced his editorial life, should have at once 
become, not only the confidant, but the counsellor, of Presi- 
dents, Governors, Secretaries and Representatives in Con- 
gress. ■ Mr. Ritchie had the full confidence of all the Demo- 
cratic Presidents (with, perhaps, one excej)tion for a short 
time), and the respect of the others, and yet this did not have 
a tendency to make him vain, or intoxicate him with self- 
importance. 

Mr. Ritchie loved the Union, but much more did he love 
his dear old mother State, and the rights of the States, which 
constituted and brought it into existence. He believed the 
only way to preserve the one was a strict observance of the 
other. He believed the one without the other could not be 
maintained, and was not worth mentioning. The Constitu- 
tion he regarded as the sheet anchor, and every departure 
from the letter and spirit he regarded with fear and pain. 
Thousands and thousands of times did he sound the tocsin, 
and issue his warning to the "latitudinarians" of the danger 
and consequences of disregarding its limitations. He saw in 
the distance the end to which it would lead. He knew that 
one violation, if not resisted at the threshold, would lead to 
another. But great as his fears were, he could not have an- 
ticipated that in so short a time this " model Republic " of 



29 

ours would have been converted into a " military despot- 
ism " — and such a despotism ! That the " creature " should 
wholly ignore its creators and absorb all their rights, of 
which there is scarcely a vestige left. 

Mr. Editor, the States Right Democrats are charged with 
being responsible for secession and its awful consequences. 
This I here emphatically deny ; and I fix that responsibility 
on its true authors. Who are they? I answer, they were 
the apologists and defenders of every infraction of the Con- 
stitution — every exercise of powers not granted. Never 
would the United States Government have dared to have 
gone to such lengths as it did if we in the South had been 
united in resisting all violations of the Constitution — no, 
never. But the perpetrators of these wrongs had allies in 
our midst, and step by step they proceeded in their mad ca- 
reer until the people were literally driven into secession in 
the hope that some of their rights could be saved. No ! Let 
the responsibility rest where it properly belongs. 

I am admonished that for the present I have written as 
much as you will like to publish, or your readers to read. 

In my next I shall speak of Mr. Ritchie's removal to 
Washington, his inside connection with Mr. Polk's adminis- 
tration, his connection with the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and 
Mr. Pierce's administration, and possibly Mr. Pierce's visit 
to him on his death-bed, and what took place then and there 
so far as the public was interested. 



No. V. 
The removal of Mr. Ritchie to Washington in 1845 was 



not a fortunate one. 



HOW CAUSED. 



When Mr. Polk was elected President in 1848 he found 
Blair & Rives conducting the Globe as the organ of the 
Democratic party. It was established under General Jack- 
son's administration, and was very ably conducted by F. P. 
Blair, Esq., and to a very great extent was supposed to be 
under the influence of Colonel Benton, and it was thought 
to be anxious to make him President of the United States. 
In the canvass of 1S44 it did not cordially support the annex- 
ation of Texas, which was the main issue in that canvass^ 



30 

and which led to the election of Mr. Polk and defeat of Mr. 
Clay. These and, perhaps, other causes, caused Mr. Polk to 
determine on a change, and in coming to that conclusion he 
incurred the displeasure of General Jackson, as Mr. Blair was 
a great favorite of the General's. Soon after Mr. Polk's elec- 
tion, he wrote to Mr. Ritchie a very pressing letter, and 
invited him take charge of his organ ; Mr. Ritchie promptly 
declined ; Mr. Polk insisted ; Mr. Ritchie continued firmly 
to decline. At last Mr. Polk invited the influence of Mr, 
Ritchie's personal and political friends, and, among others, 
was ex-Senator Wm. H. Roane and General T. H. Bayly. 
These gentlemen had great difficulty in getting Mr. Ritchie 
even to visit Mr. Polk. He at last consented to do so, and 
had a personal interview in the presence of the gentleman 
alluded to, and one other, and here a strange spectacle pre- 
sented itself. 

Mr. Polk was " put on the stand," and fully interrogated 
as to what course his administration should pursue on all 
the leading questions of the country, all of which was an- 
swered to the entire satisfaction of Mr. Ritchie. At last, 
Mr. Polk was asked if he intended to suffer his name to be 
used for a second term. He replied, emphatically, he would 
not, under any circumstances; and here it may be said, he 
was the only man who has ever occupied the Presidency who 
in good faith carried out his pledge on that subject. Hence 
the success and purity of his administration. Every point 
made by Mr. Ritchie, and every objection made by him, having 
been so satisfactorily settled, he was duly installed as editor 
of the Union, the Globe having been purchased and its name 
changed during Mr. Polk's administration. On every ques- 
tion Mr. Polk and Mr. Ritchie were in perfect accord. The 
kindest and most confidential relations existed between the 
two for four years. 

In severing his connection with the Enquirej- and Virginia 
politicians, his old and well-tried personal and political 
friends — "Virginia gentlemen" — it was the most painful 
act of his life, and deeply regretted to the hour of his death. 

In entering on his new theater of duty, he found in Wash- 
ington he had to deal with men wholly different from those 
he had parted with in Virginia. These he could place confi- 
dence in the good faith of. But, in Washington, he soon 
found a different set of men ; politicians by trade, and most 
of them false, faithless, selfish and wholly unreliable, pro- 



31 

fessing what tliey did not mean, and meaning what tliey did 
not say. 

In Mr. Polk's cabinet there were three aspirants for the 
Presidency, and each one hoped for and expected Mr. Polk 
and Mr. Kitchie to give him their support. They were all 
disappointed ; all became much soured. The consequence 
was that not a single one afforded Mr. Ritchie any support, 
and made his position a very unpleasant one. 

Mr. Ritchie was a very sensitive and unselfish man. When 
he edited the Enquirer and Union he was never known to 
recommend for office a single relative, however near and 
dear to him, and he frequently refused under different State 
and Federal administrations the highest offices in their gift, 
Governor, United States Senator and Foreign Minister. 
From the days of Jefferson to those of Mr. Polk, it is be- 
lieved no other man can say as much, and certainly not one 
of the present day. 

As soon as General Pierce readied Washington, in 1853, 
he sent for Mr. Ritchie (who was then in private life) for the 
purpose of getting the benefit of his prudent and wise ex- 
perience. 

He continued to visit him at his house until within a few 
days of his death, in July, 1854, in Washington. 

The name is extinct, except one daughter. 



No. VI. 

The Riclunond Whig, and its Editor and Founder, John 
Hamden Pleasants. 

In the year 1823 the Whig was establislied in Richmond. 
Many other political papers had been started in Richmond to 
compete with the great "Napoleon" of the press, but each 
etfort to do so proved signal failures. But when the Whig 
came to the front with its able and accomplished editor at its 
prow, it was soon found Mr. Ritchie had a "foeman worthy 
of his steel," and that it would require of him ability, tact and 
great prudence to maintain the ascendency so long held by 
him. No State in the Union could properly claim at that 
day two such able editors and finished gentlemen ; no two 
men could be more unlike than they were. 



32 

Mr. Ritchie never prepared or published an editorial with- 
out bestowing on it thought and deliberation, and with it 
added tact, judgment and prudence. 

Pleasants, on the other hand, never stopped to deliberate, 
and took no stock in policy or prudence. He was bold, dar- 
ing and aggressive. He w^as one of the finest paragraphists 
I have ever known — racy and sprightly. He would be often 
seen walking the streets in Richmond, suddenly drop into 
any store, and there dash off one of his most brilliant editori- 
als, send it to the Whig office, and seem to forget what he 
had done. He used the "Broad sword of Richard," his com- 
petitor the keen " Cimetar of Salidan," "In war he was like 
the mountain storm, in peace the gale of spring." 

Mr. Pleasants never resorted to personalities in his politi- 
cal warfare. When he made attacks they were open and 
manly ; his blows w^ere felt ; he was ever ready to acknowl- 
edge and make amends of any injustice committed. He had 
many noble and generous traits of character ; a striking one 
I will here mention : William S. Archer, then United States 
Senator of Virginia, took offense at an editorial in the En- 
quirer, and made a personal attack on its editor, Thomas 
Ritchie, in the street in Richmond. As soon as William F. 
Ritchie heard of it, without seeing his father, he sought out 
Archer and slapped his jaws, thereby throwing the " onus " 
on him. Archer immediately sent him a challenge, which 
was promptly accepted. The parties, as was usual, started 
for "Bladensburg." Ritchie was nearly blind, and even 
with glasses could scarcely distinguish objects. The moment 
Pleasants heard of it he lost no time. He had great influence 
with Archer, who was a very self-willed and impetuous man, 
but a perfect gentleman. He at once protested against any 
further proceedings on the ground : 

1st. That Ritchie had only performed an act of duty, and 
which public opinion required at his hands. 

2d, That, all things considered, that if Ritchie fell at his 
hands it would be regarded in all civilized countries as mur- 
der. 

The challenge was promptly withdrawn. 

Of the tragic end of Pleasants it is not my purpose to speak 
further than to say that all classes in Virginia deeply re- 
gretted it, and not one more so than him who caused it and 
his immediate relatives and friends, and especially his ven- 
erable father. The gentleman himself never recovered from 



33 

the shock, and died a very unhappy man. Mr. Pleasants said, 
on his death-bed : "He was a brave and noble boy, and he 
did not blame him for the act." I have reason to think that 
Pleasants went on the field and his pistols were k)aded with 
"blank" cartridges, unknown, of course, to his friends and 
his adversaries. The cause of the meetinij: was brouglit about 
by a third party. He, too, has gone. "I will not disturb the 
ashes of the dead and wound the feelings of the living." It 
is hoped that they are all in the "happy hunting grounds," 
and far removed from the troubles of earth. 

Mr. Pleasants was the son of that amiable and finished 
gentleman, ex-Governor of Virginia, James Pleasants, of 
Goochland. At the time of his death he was 49 years old. 
He was twice married^ the last time to Miss Mary Lewis Mas- 
sie, who died young and before Mr. Pleasants. By this mar- 
riage he had two children, who survived him, and are now 
living. The one, James Pleasants, is now a successful law- 
yer in Richmond, and very much respected by the whole 
community. The other is the present widow of D. H. Gor- 
don, Esq., now a resident of Baltimore. She was greatly 
admired when a young lady in Richmond, and regarded as 
one of the most accomplished of her day. 

These sketches have been traced by one opposed politically 
to Mr. Pleasants, but who never lost sight of his many fine 
traits of character. 



Colonel Parker is in no way interested pecuniarily in the 
publication of these sketches. 



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